FTX Ventures, a multi-stage venture capital firm founded in 2022 by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, today announced it will acquire a 30% stake in New York-based global alternative investment firm SkyBridge Capital. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The fresh capital infusion will provide SkyBridge with the additional working capital to fund growth initiatives and new product launches. Besides, SkyBridge will also use a portion of the proceeds to purchase $40 million in cryptocurrencies to hold on its corporate balance sheet as a long-term investment. According to the company, SkyBridge is profitable and remains debt-free, even during these uncertain market conditions.
The announcement comes just a day after FTX Ventures led a $300 million in crypto tech startup Mysten Labs, valuing the startup at over $2 billion valuation. The startup is building out the core infrastructure to power web3’s next wave of applications, increase the pace of adoption of the Sui ecosystem, and onboard the next billion users to the web.
The deal is the latest in a series of collaborations between SkyBridge and FTX, following the multi-year partnership to sponsor global SALT conferences in North America, Asia, and the Middle East. The firms co-present Crypto Bahamas, the leading institutional digital assets conference that launched in April 2022. The two firms also plan to expand their collaboration on venture and digital asset investing across current and future product offerings.
SkyBridge was founded in 2005 by Anthony Scaramucci, who also happens to be the co-founder of Oscar Capital Management. The company focuses on hedge funds, fintech, and venture capital.
“Sam is a visionary who has built incredible businesses that are synergistic with the future of SkyBridge,” said Anthony Scaramucci, Founder and Managing Partner, SkyBridge. “Our business has continued to evolve since we founded the firm in 2005. We will remain a diversified asset management firm while investing heavily in blockchain.”
“After working with Anthony and his team following our SALT conference partnership, we saw there was an opportunity to work closer together in ways that could complement both our businesses,” said Sam Bankman-Fried. “We look forward to collaborating closely with SkyBridge on its crypto investment activity and also working alongside them on promising non-crypto-related investments.”
In recent months, Sam Bankman-Fried has thrown lifelines to several digital asset startups, including cryptocurrency lenders BlockFi and Voyager Digital to help them weather the ongoing crypto winter.
